The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a protocol that allows a user to make telephone calls using an Internet connection rather than a traditional analog telephone connection. With VoIP, the caller's voice signal is converted from an analog signal into a digital signal carried by IP packets that travel over the Internet. The digital signal is then converted back into a voice analog signal at the other end so that the caller can speak with a called party. VoIP uses the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
VoIP environments typically include one or more management facilities which are used to manage the various software modules that are part of the VoIP environment. One difficulty in managing the software modules arises when the management facilities and the software modules are from different object systems. Another problem arises in determining the types of objects supported by the software modules so that the management facilities can communicate with those objects. It would be desirable to have a mechanism that automatically registers the type of objects supported by the software modules and is able to bi-directionally convert the formats of communications sent between the management facility and the registered objects.